In media interviews on Wednesday (March 23), the 12th anniversary of the signing of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, ACHI President and CEO Dr. Joe Thompson discussed the federal healthcare law and its impacts on Arkansans.
“Before the Affordable Care Act, it was common for individuals who had a condition before they got insurance to be offered insurance but not to cover that condition,” Thompson told KUAR. “The Affordable Care Act took a step in making sure that pre-existing conditions were not an exclusion in insurance policies, both for the state and nationwide.”
Thompson also discussed provisions in the law that allow children to stay on their parents’ health insurance up to age 26 and give states the option to expand their Medicaid rolls ― an option that Arkansas exercised in an innovative way by creating a program that uses federal Medicaid money to buy private health insurance for low-income residents.
“We … have over 300,000 Arkansans, working-age Arkansans, that have healthcare coverage, in particular during this pandemic, which was critically important for them to avoid financial stress,” Thompson told KNWA.
For more information on the Affordable Care Act in Arkansas, see our timeline of key policy decisions and coverage impacts.